Black Like Me
Megan Ward
Black Like Me
Dialectical Journal
Quotation From the Text
Page Number
Response
“How else except by becoming a Negro could a white man hope to learn the truth? Though we lived side by side throughout the South communication between the two races had simply ceased to exist?”
Pg. 1
Unless you become someone or maybe go through some of the same things they’ve experienced, you will never truly understand them.
“I had tampered with the mystery of existence and I had lost the sense of my own being. This is what devastated me. The Griffin that was had become invisible.”
Pg. 11
I think other teenagers including myself can relate to John at this moment. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your image that you begin to lose your own identity of who you really are.
“I learned a strange thing, that in a jumble of unintelligible talk, the word “nigger” leaps out with electric clarity.”
Pg. 21
The word “nigger” not only was used to degrade the blacks but also revealed how ignorant the person who used it was.
“...when they want to sin, they’re very democratic.”
Pg. 28
The only time a black woman would receive any type of respect from a white man was when he wanted to sleep with her.
“Many sincerely think the Negro, because of his very Negro-ness, could not possibly measure up to white standards in work performance.”
Pg. 40
Because of the color of a black man’s skin, his potential becomes limited, to that of a white man.
“Even though I was outraged, I knew he did not commit this indignity against me, but against me black flesh, my color.”
Pg. 44
It wasn’t about who he was, but only what he was. To the white he was just another black man with no worth and didn’t deserve any respect.
“He who is less than just is less than a man.”
Pg. 52
A man is someone who shows the qualities such as strength and courage. To me, if you feel the need to bring someone down, just to lift yourself up higher, you are not a “real man”.
“The chains of my
Black Like Me
Dialectical Journal
Quotation From the Text
Page Number
Response
“How else except by becoming a Negro could a white man hope to learn the truth? Though we lived side by side throughout the South communication between the two races had simply ceased to exist?”
Pg. 1
Unless you become someone or maybe go through some of the same things they’ve experienced, you will never truly understand them.
“I had tampered with the mystery of existence and I had lost the sense of my own being. This is what devastated me. The Griffin that was had become invisible.”
Pg. 11
I think other teenagers including myself can relate to John at this moment. Sometimes you can get so caught up in your image that you begin to lose your own identity of who you really are.
“I learned a strange thing, that in a jumble of unintelligible talk, the word “nigger” leaps out with electric clarity.”
Pg. 21
The word “nigger” not only was used to degrade the blacks but also revealed how ignorant the person who used it was.
“...when they want to sin, they’re very democratic.”
Pg. 28
The only time a black woman would receive any type of respect from a white man was when he wanted to sleep with her.
“Many sincerely think the Negro, because of his very Negro-ness, could not possibly measure up to white standards in work performance.”
Pg. 40
Because of the color of a black man’s skin, his potential becomes limited, to that of a white man.
“Even though I was outraged, I knew he did not commit this indignity against me, but against me black flesh, my color.”
Pg. 44
It wasn’t about who he was, but only what he was. To the white he was just another black man with no worth and didn’t deserve any respect.
“He who is less than just is less than a man.”
Pg. 52
A man is someone who shows the qualities such as strength and courage. To me, if you feel the need to bring someone down, just to lift yourself up higher, you are not a “real man”.
“The chains of my